Twinkle Twinkle
by Relm
Summary: Belle and Duke have a conversation before they go off to bed--Will Duke take this awkward conversation seriously? (I.E., Duke's "I am a star" act)


Slam! The door shut with a thud as Belle yawned, resting her back against the wall of the room of the inn after a night of spying, eating, chasing after the relic, and.. of course, going downstairs to the bar and chatting.. not to mention drinking.  
"Oww! Mi'lady!" Duke wailed from behind the door, turning the knob and marching in. He put a hand to his face, which was now red.  
"Oh, sorry, Duke," Belle lazily waved her hand off, pulling her long, silvery-blue hair out of her face. She closed the door behind him, with the navy-haired partner of hers hiding his face in a nearby corner, sniffling slightly.  
"Suck it up, will ya?! You big baby!" snapped Belle, patting Duke on the back slightly as she tapped her foot slightly.  
"Oh, yes, mi'lady..." immediately, Duke stopped sniffling and turned toward her.  
Belle grumbled slightly at this, rolling her eyes slightly. She stared down at her feet for a moment, then opened her mouth as if to speak, but no words came. Duke sat wearily on the bed, sleepy as can be.  
"Hmm..." the goggle-wearing young man began.  
"What?" Belle snorted back, slowly stepping and half-way tripping over to the other bed to spread out on it fully.  
"I was thinking..."  
"Hope it didn't hurt too much."  
"Oh, no, mi'lady... but I was thinking.. I heard that if you believe you can become whatever you want to be or do, you can actually be or do it... Do you really think that could happen?"  
Belle chucked at this, smiling and shaking her head. "And where did you hear that from?"  
"This book I read last night. It was amazing, mi'lady, it had such a wonderful lesson..."  
"And what was this book called?" Belle raised and eyebrow suspiciously.  
"The Little Engine that Could," Duke said proudly, holding up his small picture book. There was dead silence for a moment as the two stared at eachother blankly, Duke still holding up his picture book.  
"What happened to your other books? Like Shadow Night, Fist of Fire,..." Belle sighed and snatched the book from Belle, seemingly interested in the little book.  
"I'm still reading Fist of Fire," he began, an exciting grin spreading across his face, "and I got so worked up reading it, I have to take a break and read something else for a few nights, you know?! So I bought these children's books. I haven't read them since years ago, but boy, they're wonderful, mi'lady. You should read them sometime."  
"I'll.. uh, think about it." in return, Belle nodded slowly, an eyebrow still raised, as she threw the picture book lightly at Duke. The picture book hit his head sharply, and he muttered a low 'ow' and began to rub his head lightly. Belle yawned once more, not bothering to cover her hand, and snuggling up under the covers of her bed.  
"Well? Mi'lady, do you really think that's possible?" Duke's eyes shined with hope and curiousity as he stared at Belle.  
"I guess... I don't know. I've never tried to be anyone but myself. But I do want to be the best treasure hunter ever.. and I want that relic! And I believe that I can do it--if I try--and it still hasn't happened!"  
"Yeah, but it might. I'll do anything to help you get the relic, Mi'lady," replied the still ever-curious Duke, "Well.. for example... let's pretend for a second, mi'lady, that you wanted to become... a, uh..." he thought hard and deeply about something Belle enjoyed immensely and that would grab her attention.  
"A what?"  
"Err, a bottle of beer."  
"Uhh, okay... are you alright, Duke?"  
"Do you think.. if you tried hard enough.. and believed you could become it.. that you could become a bottle of beer? I mean, if you put your whole heart into it."  
Belle stared oddly at him, at a loss for words. Her expression looked as if she was about to burst out laughing, but at the same time sympathy for someone so dumb, or so she believed.  
"No. I'm a human. I could never become a bottle of beer. No matter what I do, no matter how much I try, I will never become any form of beer," Belle smiled slightly and laughed as she said this, imagining the image of herself evolving into a bottle of beer.  
Duke sighed in disappointment, lowering his once bright eyes slightly, which had seemed to lost all hope. "Oh..."  
"Yep..." Belle shrugged and turned off the light. Duke climbed under his covers and nestled into his bed. After several minutes of pure silence, Duke finally spoke up.  
"Mi'lady?"  
"What?! Can't you see I'm trying to sleep?! I need my beauty rest."  
"Yes, I see that, Mi'lady," Duke began to stutter, afraid of what the sleepy Belle's reaction would be, "but.. will you tell me a bedtime story?"  
"No," groaned Belle annoyedly, tossing over on her other side, her back towards Duke. She grumbled a bit to herself.  
"Please? I can't sleep."  
"You've only been asleep for three minutes. Count some sheep." The both of them hushed after Belle had said this. Belle fluffed her pillow slightly with one hand, resting her head back onto it, thinking of what would happen tomorrow.. would she get the relic!? Yes! she had to! She was just about to doze off into a deep, wonderful sleep, full of beautiful dreams of riches and gold, but then...  
"Mi'lady?"  
"What do you want NOW?!" Belle snapped, more angrily than the first time.  
"Will you pleeeease tell me a bedtime story?" Duke pleaded, in his most desperate, whiny, and childish voice.  
"Oh, fine, you big baby," Belle angrily answered, hardly turning around in her bed, her eyebrows slanted in fury.  
"Oh, thank you, mi'lady!" Duke smiled slightly. He stared straight at Belle in anticipation, not paying attention to her outraged and cranky expression.  
"Twinkle, twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are. Up above the world so high, like a diamond in the sky. Twinkle, twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are," said Belle with her voice raised slightly, reciting the last several words slowly with a pernicious tone to her voice.  
"Hmm... very enlightening, mi'lady. My thanks to you. I will rest well, now."  
"Good, and you'd better shut up," Belle snapped immediately.  
"Oh, yes, mi'lady," Duke said at last, turning back around and closing his eyes slowly. He began to think of the two stories he had read that day. If he tried hard enough, could he become a star? He began to mumble in his sleep.   
  
"I think I can.. I think I can... twinkle, twinkle, little star... I can.. twinkle... star... I think... am a star.. I am a star... I am a star..." 


End file.
